Audrey Ferry the daughter of a union of educators was born in Detroit. Her mother had been a teacher in a one-room school in Manistee County, Michigan, her father retired as a District Superintendent in the Detroit School System. Audrey had wonderful stories of childhood voyages from Detroit to Manistee County to spend time with her mother's family, traveling roads that were then little more than logging trails.
She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1933 (sharing the campus with Gerald Ford) and would remain a lifelong Wolverine fan even in the seasons they didn't deserve her. A blind date with a handsome, reserved young Detroit-born Civil Engineer in Bear Lake, Michigan would change her life. Years later, she would recall having thought, "What's the matter with this guy, he never says anything?" His name was Seneca, although only people who didn't know him called him that, everyone else called him "Buzz". They were married for nearly 65 years and after he died, she would assure you that not a day passed that she did not think of this quiet, thoughtful man. Audrey and Buzz raised two children in Detroit while Buzz established his career as a construction administrator and problem solver. An opportunity for career advancement brought them to Fort Wayne in 1950, where they built a home in the Wildwood Park section (designed by Buzz) whose plans had to be hastily modified to accommodate a third, unanticipated child.
When she was nearly 50 - in an environment where she would have been expected to settle into a career as a wife - Audrey attended St. Francis College and began to accumulate master's degree credits in order to qualify for a teaching position in the Fort Wayne school system. Her son recalls waiting in the car - munching corn bread and apples - while his mother attended classes. Her first teaching position - in the early sixties - was part-time at Fairfield Junior High School, and her responsibilities grew over the years to a full-time schedule of both French and English classes at Fairfield and Weisser Park Junior High Schools. She loved her work and her students, although she would often remark that she could make more money sweeping floors at a local factory. Her students will recall that she insisted that dogs - even starving dogs - would not eat homework. Changing demographics and education requirements forced her retirement from teaching in the early seventies. Unaccustomed to a life of leisure, she threw herself into volunteerism. She was at various times a deliverer of Homebound Meals, an English teacher to Spanish immigrants, a French tutor, a court assistant, a gift shop clerk and a hospital mail handler and emergency room facilitator. In general, Audrey was not good at sitting still, and walked and exercised long before it was fashionable and well past the age when it was unfashionable. If a forest path was handy, she would point out every wildflower and its folk name, a talent passed to her by her mother. With the family grown, Audrey and Buzz also found time to travel and nurtured a particular and unsurprising fondness for France and its people, returning many times to explore new places or savor familiar ones until the stresses of travel became too great.
Buzz died in 2001 following a stroke, and Audrey shuttled between home and nursing home for a month while he was ill to hold his hand and feed him. Although she had never been involved in household finances while Buzz was alive, she insisted on managing her own affairs right up to the time of her death. With the companionship of books and the help and support of her friends and neighbors, she was able to maintain her home and independence until the end. Following a series of strokes, Audrey slipped away peacefully on July 9 after 3 days in the care of the kind professionals at the Visiting Nurse and Hospice Home. She is survived by her children, Carolyn Carlson of Milwaukee, Guy Ferry of Fort Wayne and Bruce Ferry of Newburgh, New York, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place Saturday, September 15 at 3 p.m. at D. O. McComb & Sons Covington Knolls Funeral Home, 8325 Covington Road. Following the service - for those interested and able and weather permitting - a brief prayer will take place overlooking the pond at Lindenwood Nature Preserve, 600 Lindenwood Avenue, Fort Wayne. Bring comfortable shoes and the willingness to walk about a mile. Audrey and her family would be honored by your memorial gifts to Park Center, Inc., 909 East State Street, Fort Wayne 46805.
She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1933 (sharing the campus with Gerald Ford) and would remain a lifelong Wolverine fan even in the seasons they didn't deserve her. A blind date with a handsome, reserved young Detroit-born Civil Engineer in Bear Lake, Michigan would change her life. Years later, she would recall having thought, "What's the matter with this guy, he never says anything?" His name was Seneca, although only people who didn't know him called him that, everyone else called him "Buzz". They were married for nearly 65 years and after he died, she would assure you that not a day passed that she did not think of this quiet, thoughtful man. Audrey and Buzz raised two children in Detroit while Buzz established his career as a construction administrator and problem solver. An opportunity for career advancement brought them to Fort Wayne in 1950, where they built a home in the Wildwood Park section (designed by Buzz) whose plans had to be hastily modified to accommodate a third, unanticipated child.
When she was nearly 50 - in an environment where she would have been expected to settle into a career as a wife - Audrey attended St. Francis College and began to accumulate master's degree credits in order to qualify for a teaching position in the Fort Wayne school system. Her son recalls waiting in the car - munching corn bread and apples - while his mother attended classes. Her first teaching position - in the early sixties - was part-time at Fairfield Junior High School, and her responsibilities grew over the years to a full-time schedule of both French and English classes at Fairfield and Weisser Park Junior High Schools. She loved her work and her students, although she would often remark that she could make more money sweeping floors at a local factory. Her students will recall that she insisted that dogs - even starving dogs - would not eat homework. Changing demographics and education requirements forced her retirement from teaching in the early seventies. Unaccustomed to a life of leisure, she threw herself into volunteerism. She was at various times a deliverer of Homebound Meals, an English teacher to Spanish immigrants, a French tutor, a court assistant, a gift shop clerk and a hospital mail handler and emergency room facilitator. In general, Audrey was not good at sitting still, and walked and exercised long before it was fashionable and well past the age when it was unfashionable. If a forest path was handy, she would point out every wildflower and its folk name, a talent passed to her by her mother. With the family grown, Audrey and Buzz also found time to travel and nurtured a particular and unsurprising fondness for France and its people, returning many times to explore new places or savor familiar ones until the stresses of travel became too great.
Buzz died in 2001 following a stroke, and Audrey shuttled between home and nursing home for a month while he was ill to hold his hand and feed him. Although she had never been involved in household finances while Buzz was alive, she insisted on managing her own affairs right up to the time of her death. With the companionship of books and the help and support of her friends and neighbors, she was able to maintain her home and independence until the end. Following a series of strokes, Audrey slipped away peacefully on July 9 after 3 days in the care of the kind professionals at the Visiting Nurse and Hospice Home. She is survived by her children, Carolyn Carlson of Milwaukee, Guy Ferry of Fort Wayne and Bruce Ferry of Newburgh, New York, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place Saturday, September 15 at 3 p.m. at D. O. McComb & Sons Covington Knolls Funeral Home, 8325 Covington Road. Following the service - for those interested and able and weather permitting - a brief prayer will take place overlooking the pond at Lindenwood Nature Preserve, 600 Lindenwood Avenue, Fort Wayne. Bring comfortable shoes and the willingness to walk about a mile. Audrey and her family would be honored by your memorial gifts to Park Center, Inc., 909 East State Street, Fort Wayne 46805.
Audrey Ferry the daughter of a union of educators was born in Detroit. Her mother had been a teacher in a one-room school in Manistee County, Michigan, her father retired as a District Superintendent in the Detroit School System. Audrey had wonderful stories of childhood voyages from Detroit to Manistee County to spend time with her mother's family, traveling roads that were then little more than logging trails.
She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1933 (sharing the campus with Gerald Ford) and would remain a lifelong Wolverine fan even in the seasons they didn't deserve her. A blind date with a handsome, reserved young Detroit-born Civil Engineer in Bear Lake, Michigan would change her life. Years later, she would recall having thought, "What's the matter with this guy, he never says anything?" His name was Seneca, although only people who didn't know him called him that, everyone else called him "Buzz". They were married for nearly 65 years and after he died, she would assure you that not a day passed that she did not think of this quiet, thoughtful man. Audrey and Buzz raised two children in Detroit while Buzz established his career as a construction administrator and problem solver. An opportunity for career advancement brought them to Fort Wayne in 1950, where they built a home in the Wildwood Park section (designed by Buzz) whose plans had to be hastily modified to accommodate a third, unanticipated child.
When she was nearly 50 - in an environment where she would have been expected to settle into a career as a wife - Audrey attended St. Francis College and began to accumulate master's degree credits in order to qualify for a teaching position in the Fort Wayne school system. Her son recalls waiting in the car - munching corn bread and apples - while his mother attended classes. Her first teaching position - in the early sixties - was part-time at Fairfield Junior High School, and her responsibilities grew over the years to a full-time schedule of both French and English classes at Fairfield and Weisser Park Junior High Schools. She loved her work and her students, although she would often remark that she could make more money sweeping floors at a local factory. Her students will recall that she insisted that dogs - even starving dogs - would not eat homework. Changing demographics and education requirements forced her retirement from teaching in the early seventies. Unaccustomed to a life of leisure, she threw herself into volunteerism. She was at various times a deliverer of Homebound Meals, an English teacher to Spanish immigrants, a French tutor, a court assistant, a gift shop clerk and a hospital mail handler and emergency room facilitator. In general, Audrey was not good at sitting still, and walked and exercised long before it was fashionable and well past the age when it was unfashionable. If a forest path was handy, she would point out every wildflower and its folk name, a talent passed to her by her mother. With the family grown, Audrey and Buzz also found time to travel and nurtured a particular and unsurprising fondness for France and its people, returning many times to explore new places or savor familiar ones until the stresses of travel became too great.
Buzz died in 2001 following a stroke, and Audrey shuttled between home and nursing home for a month while he was ill to hold his hand and feed him. Although she had never been involved in household finances while Buzz was alive, she insisted on managing her own affairs right up to the time of her death. With the companionship of books and the help and support of her friends and neighbors, she was able to maintain her home and independence until the end. Following a series of strokes, Audrey slipped away peacefully on July 9 after 3 days in the care of the kind professionals at the Visiting Nurse and Hospice Home. She is survived by her children, Carolyn Carlson of Milwaukee, Guy Ferry of Fort Wayne and Bruce Ferry of Newburgh, New York, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place Saturday, September 15 at 3 p.m. at D. O. McComb & Sons Covington Knolls Funeral Home, 8325 Covington Road. Following the service - for those interested and able and weather permitting - a brief prayer will take place overlooking the pond at Lindenwood Nature Preserve, 600 Lindenwood Avenue, Fort Wayne. Bring comfortable shoes and the willingness to walk about a mile. Audrey and her family would be honored by your memorial gifts to Park Center, Inc., 909 East State Street, Fort Wayne 46805.
She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1933 (sharing the campus with Gerald Ford) and would remain a lifelong Wolverine fan even in the seasons they didn't deserve her. A blind date with a handsome, reserved young Detroit-born Civil Engineer in Bear Lake, Michigan would change her life. Years later, she would recall having thought, "What's the matter with this guy, he never says anything?" His name was Seneca, although only people who didn't know him called him that, everyone else called him "Buzz". They were married for nearly 65 years and after he died, she would assure you that not a day passed that she did not think of this quiet, thoughtful man. Audrey and Buzz raised two children in Detroit while Buzz established his career as a construction administrator and problem solver. An opportunity for career advancement brought them to Fort Wayne in 1950, where they built a home in the Wildwood Park section (designed by Buzz) whose plans had to be hastily modified to accommodate a third, unanticipated child.
When she was nearly 50 - in an environment where she would have been expected to settle into a career as a wife - Audrey attended St. Francis College and began to accumulate master's degree credits in order to qualify for a teaching position in the Fort Wayne school system. Her son recalls waiting in the car - munching corn bread and apples - while his mother attended classes. Her first teaching position - in the early sixties - was part-time at Fairfield Junior High School, and her responsibilities grew over the years to a full-time schedule of both French and English classes at Fairfield and Weisser Park Junior High Schools. She loved her work and her students, although she would often remark that she could make more money sweeping floors at a local factory. Her students will recall that she insisted that dogs - even starving dogs - would not eat homework. Changing demographics and education requirements forced her retirement from teaching in the early seventies. Unaccustomed to a life of leisure, she threw herself into volunteerism. She was at various times a deliverer of Homebound Meals, an English teacher to Spanish immigrants, a French tutor, a court assistant, a gift shop clerk and a hospital mail handler and emergency room facilitator. In general, Audrey was not good at sitting still, and walked and exercised long before it was fashionable and well past the age when it was unfashionable. If a forest path was handy, she would point out every wildflower and its folk name, a talent passed to her by her mother. With the family grown, Audrey and Buzz also found time to travel and nurtured a particular and unsurprising fondness for France and its people, returning many times to explore new places or savor familiar ones until the stresses of travel became too great.
Buzz died in 2001 following a stroke, and Audrey shuttled between home and nursing home for a month while he was ill to hold his hand and feed him. Although she had never been involved in household finances while Buzz was alive, she insisted on managing her own affairs right up to the time of her death. With the companionship of books and the help and support of her friends and neighbors, she was able to maintain her home and independence until the end. Following a series of strokes, Audrey slipped away peacefully on July 9 after 3 days in the care of the kind professionals at the Visiting Nurse and Hospice Home. She is survived by her children, Carolyn Carlson of Milwaukee, Guy Ferry of Fort Wayne and Bruce Ferry of Newburgh, New York, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place Saturday, September 15 at 3 p.m. at D. O. McComb & Sons Covington Knolls Funeral Home, 8325 Covington Road. Following the service - for those interested and able and weather permitting - a brief prayer will take place overlooking the pond at Lindenwood Nature Preserve, 600 Lindenwood Avenue, Fort Wayne. Bring comfortable shoes and the willingness to walk about a mile. Audrey and her family would be honored by your memorial gifts to Park Center, Inc., 909 East State Street, Fort Wayne 46805.
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